The present invention relates to a cell removal method, a cell removal system, and a white blood cell removal method.
In order to perform blood component transfusion, for example, it is necessary to separate blood components such as packed red blood cell components or plasma components from blood to produce a blood component product. A blood component product is produced using, for example, a system that can be mounted on a centrifugal separator. Such a system includes, for example, a blood collection bag that receives blood collected from the human body, a blood bag, a blood component bag that receives separated blood components, a tube that connects them, and the like (see Patent Literature 1).
In the production of a blood component product, for example, blood in the blood collection bag is passed through a filter using the difference in gravity to remove white blood cells that are a pathogenic substance, and then received in the blood bag. Subsequently, the blood component production system is mounted on a centrifugal separator. Using the centrifugal separator, blood in the blood bag is separated by centrifugation into a plasma component layer and a red blood cell component layer, for example, according to the difference in cell concentration. Subsequently, for example, the system is mounted on an apheresis system, and the plasma component layer in the blood bag is pressed out and received in the blood component bag to produce a plasma product.
In addition, the red blood cell component layer remaining in the blood bag is pressed out by the apheresis system and received in another blood component bag to produce a red blood cell product.
Patent Literature 1: Patent Publication JP-A-2009-90136
Patent Literature 2: Patent Publication JP-A-2002-320669
Incidentally, for example, in the production of a blood component product mentioned above, in order to more reliably prevent side effects of blood component transfusion caused by white blood cells, etc., it is necessary to further increase the efficiency of white blood cell removal by a filter. In addition, by increasing the efficiency of white blood cell removal by a filter, the filter can be reduced in size. By reducing the filter size, the amount of useful components caught by the filter and wasted, such as red blood cells, can be reduced.